MOHR inks MoU with UN Women for advancing women rights.

ISLAMABAD -- Ministry of Human Rights (MOHR) and UN Women inked a five-year partnership agreement in women's human rights reporting, legislation, and technical assistance.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Shaigaan Shareef Malik, Federal Secretary of the Ministry of Human Rights and Alice H. Shackelford, Pakistan Country Director of UN Women.

The collaboration is aimed to formalize cooperation for effective implementation of Pakistan national obligations under CEDAW and other human rights treaties after one enriched year of technical support in the area.

The closer partnership will focus on capacity building at the Ministry of Human Rights on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Convention against Torture (CAT), and Universal Periodic Review (UPR) - a new UN constructive mechanism to review human rights records and actions the UN Member States have taken to improve the human rights situations.

At the signing ceremony, Shaigaan Malik expressed the deep commitment of the Ministry of Human Rights in promoting human rights and stressed the need for enhanced partnerships and better coordination for joint interventions aimed at safeguarding human rights in the country.

UN Women will support the strengthening of human rights institutions at the federal and provincial levels by working with individuals and increasing their knowledge on the Convention, the required set of skills on CEDAW reporting, legislations, policies and plans related to women's human rights in the country.

Shackelford emphasized the need for linking human rights interventions and reporting with recommendations of international commitments such as CEDAW and UPR, and in supporting government priorities with respect to women's empowerment and women's rights.

"UN Women is committed to the advancement of women's human rights and looks forward to working with the Ministry of Human Rights to eliminate the many different forms of gender-based discrimination, particularly for vulnerable and marginalized groups," said Shackelford.

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Publication:	Balochistan Times (Baluchistan Province, Pakistan)
Geographic Code:	9PAKI
Date:	Oct 6, 2012
Words:	313
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